I Owe a Debt of Gratitude to Mobile Fidelity

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Supertramp Available Now

For me, Crime of the Century worked like a gateway drug to get me addicted to the amazing soundscapes found on so many Prog Rock and Art Rock recordings, although I didn’t know what the termArt Rock meant or whether it even existed yet.

I just knew I loved Supertramp’s music. Both Crime and Crisis? What Crisis? were in heavy rotation in the apartment I lived in three blocks from the beach in the mid-70s.

The first Supertramp album I bought on audiophile vinyl would have been the Mobile Fidelity pressing of Crime of the Century which came out in 1978.

It was that label’s first rock release and it showed me the kind of Big Rock Sound I didn’t think was possible for two speakers to produce. In my mind it sounded to me like live music at a concert. I had simply never heard anything like it.

That was partly because I had upgraded to some very big speakers and some awesomely expensive tube gear in 1976, just a couple of years earlier.

When I threw that super Hi-Fi Audiophile pressing on the turntable and turned the volume up good and loud, I thought there could be no question that finally, after all these years and after so many different stereo systems, I had reached the pinnacle of home audio. The sound just could not get any better.

By 1978, Crisis? What Crisis and Even in the Quietest Moments had already come out, and though you couldn’t buy either of those albums on a super-duper disc from Mofi, there was a Half-Speed of Crisis which, I have to admit, sounded great to me at the time and well after it should have. (I don’t know what I thought of the Sweet Thunder pressing of EITQM, but I know what I think now: it sucks.)

I became an even bigger fan of Crisis than I had been of COTC, if you can believe such a thing. (None of my friends could.)

Since Crime… is one of those albums that I still listen to regularly, I can say with confidence that it is the better album by a small margin, and one that would come with me to my desert island even if I were limited to as few as ten titles — that’s how good it is.

And I owe a debt of gratitude to a label that comes in for a lot of criticism on this blog, the one that took Supertramp’s best album and made it a Demo Disc the likes of which I had never heard before, Mobile Fidelity.

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Cat Stevens on 2 Heavy Vinyl 45 RPM Discs, Part 1 – Is This the Truest Tillerman of Them All?

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Cat Stevens Available Now

About ten years ago we auditioned and reviewed the 2011 edition of Tea for the Tillerman pressed by Analogue Productions, the one that came on a single Heavy Vinyl 33 RPM LP.

I wrote a very long commentary about the sound of that record, taking it to task for its manifold shortcomings, at the end of which I came to the conclusion that the proper sonic grade for such a record is F as in Fail. My exhaustive review asked the not-very-subtle question, this is your idea of analog?

Our intro gave this short overview:

Yes, we know, the folks over at Acoustic Sounds, in consultation with the late George Marino at Sterling Sound, supposedly with the real master tape in hand, and supposedly with access to the best mastering equipment money can buy, labored mightily, doing their level best to master and press the Definitive Audiophile Tea for the Tillerman of All Time.

It just didn’t come out very well, no matter what anybody tells you.

Recently I was able to borrow a copy of the new 45 cutting from a customer who had rather liked it. I would never have shelled out my own money to hear a record put out on the Analogue Productions label, a label that has an unmitigated string of failures to its name. But for free? Count me in!

The offer of the new 45 could not have been more fortuitous. I had just spent a number of weeks playing a White Hot Stamper Pink Label original UK pressing in an attempt to get our new Playback Studio sounding right.

We had a lot of problems. We needed to work on electrical issues. We needed to work on our room treatments. We needed to work on speaker placement.

We initially thought the room was doing everything right, because our Go To setup disc, Bob and Ray, sounded super spacious and clear, bigger and more lively than we’d ever heard it. That’s what a 12 foot high ceiling can do for a large group of musicians playing live in a huge studio, in 1959, on an All Tube Chain Living Stereo recording. The sound just soared.

But Cat Stevens wasn’t sounding right, and if Cat Stevens isn’t sounding right, we knew we had a Very Big Problem. Some stereos play some kinds of records well and others not so well. Our stereo has to play every kind of record well because we sell every kind of record there is. You name the kind of music, we probably sell it. And if we offer it for sale, we had to have played it and liked the sound, because no record makes it to our site without being auditioned and found to have excellent sound.

But I Might Die Tonight

The one song we played over and over again, easily a hundred times or more, was But I Might Die Tonight, the leadoff track for side two. It’s short, less than two minutes long, but a lot happens in those two minutes. More importantly, getting everything that happens in those two minutes to sound not just right, but as good as you have ever heard it, turned out to be a tall order indeed.

I could write for days about what to listen for in the song, but for now let me just point the reader to one of the most difficult parts to reproduce correctly.

At about 50 seconds into the track, Cat repeats the first verse:

I don’t want to work away
Doing just what they all say
Work hard boy and you’ll find
One day you’ll have a job like mine, job like mine, a job like mine

Only this time he now has a multi-tracked harmony vocal singing along with him, his own of course, and he himself is also singing the lead part louder and more passionately. Getting the regular vocal, call it the “lower part,” to be in balance with the multi-tracked backing vocal, call it the “higher part,” turned out to be the key to getting the bottom, middle and top of the midrange right.

When doing this kind of critical listening we play our records very loud. Live Performance level loud. As loud as Cat could sing, that’s how loud it should be when he is singing his loudest toward the end of the song for the final “But I might die tonight!” If he is going to sing loudly, I want my stereo to be able to reproduce him singing as loud as he is actually singing on the record. No compression. No distortion. All the energy. That’s what I want to hear.

The last fifteen seconds or so of the song has the pianist (Cat himself) banging out some heavy chords on the piano. If you have your levels right it should sound like there is a real piano at the back of the room and that someone is really banging on it. It’s a powerful coda to the song. (more…)

Mendelssohn / Chopin – Cello Sonatas / Starker / Sebok

Mercury Living Presence Records Available Now

  • Starker and Sebok’s virtuoso performances debut on the site with the rich, dynamic, and tubey sound we were hoping for, earning INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades throughout this original Plum Label Mercury pressing
  • Both of these sides are big, full-bodied, clean and clear, with a wonderfully present and solid piano, and plenty of 3D space around it
  • The cello is present and immediate, with sound that is remarkably textured, full and harmonically natural
  • Not only is this the best sounding copy we have to offer from our recent shootout, but we are happy to report that the vinyl is reasonably quiet for a vintage Plum Label Mercury stereo pressing, with no marks that play or problems with the inner grooves

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Miklós Rózsa – Quo Vadis (Music From the Film)

More Orchestral Spectaculars

  • This Decca Phase 4 Stereo pressing of Rózsa’s sweeping cinematic score boasts solid Double Plus (A++) sound or BETTER from start to finish
  • These TAS-approved sides are clear, full-bodied and present, with plenty of space around the players, the unmistakable sonic hallmark of the properly mastered, properly pressed vintage analog LP
  • This 1978 re-recording of Rózsa’s original work for the 1951 film, performed by the Royal Philharmonic, succeeds in achieving glorious Phase IV orchestral sound
  • 4 1/2 stars: “Rózsa gets spirited performances out of the orchestra and the chorus, but with the latter he also achieves a level of subtlety in their performance of his work which greatly enhances the finale to the piece.”

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The Beatles – Help

More of the Music of The Beatles

  • With two outstanding Double Plus (A++) sides, this copy will be very hard to beat – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • Everything that’s great about Help is here on this UK pressing – jangly 12-string guitars, Tubey Magical electric pianos, harmonically rich tambourines and claves, and, the sine qua non of any Beatles album, breathy, present vocals
  • If you’re like us and think the new Beatles Heavy Vinyl reissues are boosted in the bass and way too smooth in the midrange, whether mono or stereo, take comfort in the fact that this pressing is neither of those things, because it sounds right
  • Side one alone boasts 7 classics: “Help!,” “The Night Before,” “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” “I Need You,” “Another Girl,” “You’re Gonna Lose That Girl” and “Ticket to Ride” – whew!

Want to hear The Beatles at their Tubey Magical best? Just play “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” on this very copy.

One of the reasons this song stands out in a crowd of great tracks is that there are only acoustic instruments being played. There’s not an electric guitar to be found anywhere in the mix, one of the few tracks on side one for which that is true.

We flip out over the Tubey Magical acoustic guitars and harmony vocals found on early Beatles albums, and this song can be an exceptionally good example of both when you’re fortunate enough to have the right pressing playing.

Those of you with Hot Stamper pressings of the album can count themselves among the fortunate.

You’ve Got To Play Them To Know How They Sound

The best import copies of this album sound AMAZING, but the average one is fairly mediocre. Most tend to be dull, lacking upper midrange presence as well as extension up at the very top. They look fine, they look like they should have an extended top end, but not that many do.

It just goes to show that the only way to find out if a record sounds any good is by playing it. We don’t imagine many people have the extra time that’s required to find, clean, and play multiple import copies of this record — so why not let us do the work for you so that you can spend your free time ENJOYING this wonderful album?

Tubey Magical Guitar reproduction is superb on the better copies of this recording. Simply phenomenal amounts of Tubey Magic can be heard on every strum, along with richness, body and harmonic coherency that have all but disappeared from modern recordings (and especially from modern remasterings).

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Pictures at an Exhibition – An Overview

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Mussorgsky Available Now

There is a slightly multi-miked quality to this recording. If you’ve been playing true Golden Age records all day you will notice that the instruments are more naturally and correctly spaced and sized on those recordings.

But, this is still a KNOCKOUT record which is guaranteed to bring any stereo to its knees. The dynamics, the deep bass and the sheer power of the orchestra have to be heard to be believed.

What does the typical EMI pressing of this album sound like?

Not good. Sour brass, smeary or shrill strings, lacking in bass — mid-hall dead-as-a-doornail sound is fairly typical.

Almost all the copies I’ve played are spacious, but so what?

The sound of the instruments is often wrong and in my book that trumps any benefits concerning soundstaging or depth.

But the best Hot Stamper pressings give you the presence and immediacy you need to get involved in the work.

The strings on the better copies have rosiny texture.

The brass has weight — not the full measure of an RCA or London recording, but at least you get the impression that those instruments are trying to sound correct.

And the bass drum really goes deep, unlike many of the Golden Age recordings I’ve heard.

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Letter of the Week – “a magical tonal balance filled with glimmers of insight.”

More of the Music of Willie Nelson

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:

Hey Tom, 

I just wanted to give a quick thanks for helping me pull out of the modern reissue scam. Willie Nelson’s Yesterday’s Wine was my wake up record.

I listened as close as I could to the Speakers Corner press trying to find some kind of merit. I thought there was something wrong with me or my equipment.

The hot stamper of the same record I recently received had a magical tonal balance filled with glimmers of insight.

Thanks for getting me on the right track to truly hearing analog.

Guy

Guy,

You are very welcome.

Nothing could make us happier than to get another audiophile away from the fast-food-quality sound of the modern Heavy Vinyl LP.

Once you hear what you are missing, really hear it, there is no going back.

You are on a new road now, one that will lead to a great deal more musical enjoyment.

For everybody else who comes to this blog, if you are stuck in a Heavy Vinyl rut, we can help you get out of it. We did precisely that for Guy and a bunch of other audiophiles, and we can do it for you.

You may of course not be aware that you are stuck in a rut. Most audiophiles aren’t. The best way out of that predicament is to hear how mediocre these modern records sound compared to the vintage Hot Stampers we offer. Once you hear the difference, your days of buying newly remastered releases will most likely be over.

We’ve written a fair amount about the ear-opening effects of playing a Hot Stamper pressing for the first time. More on the subject here.

Even if our pricey curated pressings are beyond your budget, you can avail yourself of the methods we use to find killer records on your own.

Thanks for your letter,

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Debussy – Images for Orchestra / Ansermet (Decca)

More of the Music of Claude Debussy

More of the Music of Maurice Ravel

  • Solid Double Plus (A++) sound or close to it brings Ansermet and the Suisse Romande’s performance to life on this original Decca Stereo pressing
  • It’s also fairly quiet at Mint Minus Minus, and for recordings of Debussy, that is quiet indeed
  • We often run into condition issues with this title – the two copies with the highest grades had problems in the vinyl that make them unsuitable for audiophiles (especially at these prices)
  • If you want to go digging for your own copy, we tell you how to do that on the blog, and we wish you good luck, you’re going to need it
  • This copy is remarkably lively and dynamic, particularly on side two – the RCA with Munch is also excellent, but you will find very little to fault in the sound of this record if you don’t have precisely the right stampers for that one
  • It’s worth noting that only the London pressings ever win the shootout, which is something that we run into on a regular basis but for some reason surprises audiophile record lovers to this very day
  • Why the disparity, we have no idea – they are all mastered by Decca in England from the same tapes, and by the same engineers!

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The Byrds – Mr. Tambourine Man (Red Label)

More of the Music of The Byrds

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  • With very good Hot Stamper sound from start to finish, this Columbia Red Label pressing will be hard to beat, especially for those looking for quiet vinyl
  • The 360 Label pressings in stereo will always win our shootouts, but there are Red Label pressings like this one that can sound very good, just not as good
  • It’s richer and fuller than the average copy, with notably more presence, and that will be especially true when you compare it to whatever godawful Heavy Vinyl pressing may be currently available
  • This is true of even our lowest-priced, lowest-graded copies – they are guaranteed to sound much better than any pressing you can find on the market today, as well as any pressing you may already own
  • 5 stars: “One of the greatest debuts in the history of rock … nothing less than a significant step in the evolution of rock & roll itself, demonstrating that intelligent lyrical content could be wedded to compelling electric guitar riffs and a solid backbeat.”
  • If you’re a fan of the Byrds, this is a Classic from 1965 that belongs in your collection.

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Skip the Classic Records Pressing of Ballet Music From The Opera

Hot Stamper Living Stereo Orchestral Titles Available Now

Classic Records ruined this album, as anyone who has played some of their classical reissues would have expected.

Their version is dramatically more aggressive, shrill and harsh than the Shaded Dogs we’ve played, with almost none of the sweetness, richness and ambience that the best RCA pressings have in such abundance.

In fact their pressing is just plain awful, like most of the classical recordings they remastered, and should be avoided at any price. 

Apparently, most audiophiles (including audiophile record reviewers) have never heard a top quality classical recording. If they had, Classic Records would have gone out of business immediately after producing their first three Living Stereo titles, all of which were dreadful and labeled as such by us way back in 1994. I’m not sure why the rest of the audiophile community was so easily fooled, but I can say that we weren’t, at least when it came to their classical releases. 

We admit to having made plenty of mistaken judgments about their jazz and rock, and we have the we was wrong entries to prove it.

The last review we wrote for the remastered Scheherazade, which fittingly ended up in our Hall of Shame, with an equally fitting sonic grade of F.

TAS Super Disc list to this day? Of course it is!

With every improvement we’ve made to our system over the years, their records have managed to sound progressively worse. (This is pretty much true for all Heavy Vinyl pressings, another good reason for our decision to stop buying them in 2007.) That ought to tell you something.

Better audio stops hiding and starts revealing the shortcomings of bad records.

At the same time, and much more importantly, better audio reveals more and more of the strengths and beauty of good records.

Which of course begs the question of what actually is a good record — what it is that makes one record good and another bad — but luckily for you dear reader, you are actually on a site that has much to say about those very issues.

There are scores of commentaries on the site about the huge improvements in audio available to the discerning (and well-healed) audiophile. It’s the reason Hot Stampers can and do sound dramatically better than their Heavy Vinyl or Audiophile counterparts: because your stereo is good enough to show you the difference.

With an old school audio system you will continue to be fooled by bad records, just as I and all my audio buds were fooled twenty and thirty years ago. Audio has improved immensely in that time. If you’re still playing Heavy Vinyl and Audiophile pressings, there’s a world of sound you’re missing. We would love to help you find it.

One amazing sounding orchestral Hot Stamper pressing might just be what it takes to get the ball rolling.

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